Contrast & Compare

PETROCARIBE, Strategic Alliance

The Third PETROCARIBE Summit, held on Saturday, has created new integration options for the region, on the basis of agreements aimed at guaranteeing energy sovereignty through cooperation.

Founded two years ago, the energy group has made major achievements in its member countries, including Nicaragua and Haiti, which signed the agreement on Saturday.

PETROCARIBE, which has an area of influence of about 1.5 million square kilometers, reaffirmed its goal to achieve energy integration as an instrument of an economic, political and strategic alliance.

The Political Declaration signed by participants points out that the energy lever is a key element to boost economic, social and political integration.

The document expresses the participants' will to turn Latin America and the Caribbean into a big bloc within the framework of an emerging multipolar world.

The presidents, prime ministers and representatives of the member countries agreed that PETROCARIBE is being developed parallel to the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

According to the political assessment, the ALBA, made up of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, is a landmark in regional integration with social justice, fair Exchange and solidarity.

During the meeting, ten members of PETROCARIBE signed an Energy Security Treaty proposed by Venezuela and previously signed with Argentina and Uruguay.

The accord establishes five strategic lines: oil, gas, power, renewable energy and joint ventures, a projection that must lead to the creation of oil- and petrochemical-refining centers in the region.

Grenada, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Haiti, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Surinam and Venezuela penned the unprecedented accord for the region, to which Caracas offered to guarantee their energy needs for the next 100 years.
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Lula Ends Ethanol-Fueled LatAm Tour

Brazilian President Luis Inacio (Lula) da Silva returned home from a Latin American business promotion tour of Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica and Panama.

A release issued at the end of the talks with Panama President Martin Torrijos, plus officials and businessmen, shows promising opportunities and few immediate results.

Producing alcohol from sugar cane that mixed with gas fuels millions of cars in Brazil, may have lured that country but does not seem as profiting and clever in Panama.

Two-year talks on ethanol passed from a "protocol of intentions" to a "memorando of understanding" to establish a group or bilateral "task-force" that keeps targeting the possibility of developing the ethanol deal.

The most attractive proposal on ethanol was put forward by Torrijos, who offered that Brazil use Panama as its port on the Pacific for its exports to Asia and the west coast of North America.

Lula on his part, confirmed his government s interest to establish a regional center for the distribution of Brazilian products and ordered to finish the legal and administrative adjustments to carry out this aspiration in the shortest term possible.

The communiqué also voices satisfaction on the results of talks on biofuels, the need to fight hunger and poverty, bovine genetics, legal aid and emigration, as well as the interest to join forces in the bid to expand the canal.